Learning Reinforcement: The Best Way to Fight Learning Loss

Are your students forgetful, and their forgetfulness is driving you cRaZy?

If yes--read my previous post about The Forgetting Curve.  It will probably answer some questions you have.....

Obviously students forgetting taught information is NOT great for educators, BUT....there is a way to combat the forgetting curve.  Read about the FIVE ways to soften forgetfullness by reading The Forgetting Curve: Why Students Keep Forgetting and What Teachers Can Do About It!

Perhaps one of the biggest findings in Herman Ebbinghaus's original forgetting experiment was that re-engaging with material again and again, at spaced intervals leads to a dramatic reduction in forgetting.

So, as teachers, we need to design lessons where students are asked to re-retrieve information at spaced intervals.  Hello.....opportunities to respond (OTRs)! OTRs are an excellent way to help cement learning to memory.

Opportunities to respond is a teaching strategy that elicits students responses by posing questions or comments that provide students multiple occasions to answer (Cuticelli, Collier-Meek, & Coyne, 2016)

When you provide students with OTRs it makes learning:

• Micro.  You are chunking and chewing content that has been delievered.  Students get time to digest and process taught information.
• Interactive.  Students are involved in their learning
• Reinforced.  Students are asked to answer, comment or complete an activity about what they are learning. 

Research tells us that teachers should provide 3-5 OTRs per minute for simple responses (verbal or gestural) and 1 OTR per minute when the OTR is more complex (think solving a multi-step math problem). For very complex tasks, like answering a prompt in writing, 1 OTR per 20 to 30 minutes is sufficient. (MacSuga-Gage & Simonsen, 2015).

Now, although an increase in OTRs is good....the goal should be quality OTRs over quantity. 

So, what might be some ways to get quality OTRs in your classroom?

Students should be: 

1. Saying things
2. Writing things
3. Doing things 

We will take a deep dive into the three types of OTRs in the preceeding blog posts!  So, stay tuned.  

In the meantime, take a look at this resource from Tennessee Behavior Supports Project at Vanderbuilt University  Or, this resource from the Institute of Education Sciences which is funded by the US Department of Education. 

References

MacSuga-Gage, A. & Simonsen, B. (2015). Examining the effects of teacherdirected opportunities to respond on student outcomes: A systematic review of the literature. Education and Treatment of Children, 38, 211-240.

The Forgetting Curve: Why We Keep Forgetting and What Teachers Can Do About It

Are your students forgetful, and their forgetfulness is driving you bananas?

If yes--read my previous post about The Forgetting Curve.

Basically, our brains are hardwired to get rid of any information they don't deem necessary for survival.  The Forgetting Curve presents a real challenge for educators.....after all our job is to bestow knowledge to students.

So how do we fight the forgetting curve?  How do we help students retain taught information?  

We combat the Forgetting Curve in following ways:

1. Improve Clarity

Make information easy to absorb from the onset by using learning intentions and success criteria.  We want students to know what we will teach them and how they will know they're successful.  We should tell them BEFORE we teach.  

Check out this quick video about learning intentions an success criteria from educational guru, John Hattie:

2. Learning Reinforcement

Perhaps one of the biggest findings in Ebbinghaus's original experiment was that re-engaging with material again and again, at spaced intervals, leads to a dramatic reduction in the forgetting curve (check out that graph below!)

So, as teachers, we need to design lessons where students are asked to re-retrieve information at spaced intervals.  This is an excellent way to help cement learning to memory.

3. Make Learning Relevant

We all remember information easier if the topic is something we are passionate about.  How might we present information to students to help them care about it and to help them see the relevancy?  

4. Make Learning Interactive

People learn better when they are actively involved.  We must give learners opportunities to interact with the content and not be passive observers.  Learning is not a spectator sport!

5. Use Microlearning 

Microlearning is a fancy word for chunking and chewing information.  Information is easier to learn when it comes in bite-sized pieces.  A long teaching session makes it difficult for our brains to absorb all of the information.